Houston, we have lift-off!!

Great news!! The motor's oil pump priming went well, although it took while to build oil pressure, which had me on my toes the whole time...

Then it was finally time to put the spark plugs back in and try and fire it up... And it worked!!! The engine fired up perfectly and ran smoothly the whole time I had it on, which was for about an hour. Initially, the ECU had a little trouble holding idle, but that got fixed quite soon.

After that successful test, I finally took the old girl out for a drive, after more than a year! The first outing went well, so now I'm using her as my daily driver! The ride to and from work has never been more fun!!

Stay tuned, the show's far from over! I'm just starting to break her in! :-)

Update...

Just thought I'd post an update, it's a been a while... The engine issues are all taken care of, thanks to JMS Engines! In the past few weeks I've reassembled the engine for the SECOND time, now it's complete and back in the car with the transmission attached.

The powertrain is now completely assembled and the heat shields are in place, as is the center support crossmember. The exhaust is also completely hung, although not all tightened up.

Not too much work remains to be done, just the devilish details! :-) Let's see now, this is what I can remember that's left to do:

• Tighten exhaust system
  
• Attach clutch slave cylinder (this will complete the rear section of the car)
  
• Attach steering pump and hydraulic hoses
• Attach A/C compressor
• Attach oil cooler and oil cooler hoses
• Attach radiator and main coolant hoses
• Connect all coolant lines around engine
• Attach multi-connector for fuel injectors
• Attach and secure dipstick feed pipe
• Attach idle control valve
  
• Attach air filter and intake boot
• Attach fuel lines to injector rail (in and out) and to charcoal canister
• Attach fuel line retainer to cable rail under intake manifold
  
• Attach throttle body cable assembly
• Attach all electronics multi-connectors
• Attach engine grounding strap
  
• Attach cable harness to firewall
• Install spark plugs and ignition wires, connect ignition coil
  
• Attach Oxygen sensor, connect cable
• Install oil filter
• Attach connector for cooling fan to radiator
• Connect oil pressure sensor cable
• Fill coolant
• Fill power steering fluid
• Fill motor oil and additive (to break in the cam)
• Oh, and, once testing is completed, attach the hood! :-)

Wow, that's still a big list... Although I suppose a lot of stuff on that list is small... Stay tuned if you wish, I'll keep posting as I work through it...